Friday, June 01, 2007
Apartheid 'no longer an excuse'
Apartheid and lack of resources are no longer justifiable arguments to defend mediocrity, Education Minister Naledi Pandor told Parliament this week, urging South Africans to choose excellence and reject mediocrity for the sake of "nation building, socio-economic development and true liberation".
Delivering the Department of Education's budget speech in Parliament in Cape Town on Tuesday, Pandor said mediocrity in South Africa was being supported by "unjustifiable arguments".
"Some cite apartheid," the minister said. "I acknowledge that the legacy of apartheid continues to affect us, but it no longer serves to explain continued failures on our part.
"Others cite inadequate resources. Yet this is also no longer a persuasive argument."
